Jan 09, 2013

BINGO! What makes a Daily Express front page?

With the weather, Diana and dementia on the front page, yesterday's Daily Express sparked calls of 'bingo!' from media watchers well aware of the paper's reliance on limited subject matter.

But while the weather and dementia are indeed absolute staples of the Express's coverage, Diana has become a surprisingly rare sight on the front of the paper she once dominated.

In recent years she has been replaced by Kate Middleton.

In fact, Diana was on just three front pages last year while Kate Middleton was on more than 50.

So what is the definitive list of current Daily Express hot topics?

Based on some pretty unscientific analysis of the past year's front pages - and the stories which were either the lead story or the main photo story - there is a clear pattern of subjects which dominate the paper's front page. Top most amongst them is the weather of course, followed by Kate Middleton.

What's more, focusing on the top dozen they break down neatly into four categories/self-fulfilling prophecies:

So the bingo card should therefore look like this:

See how long it takes you to complete a line and the full house. You can count any story which appears on the front page. Could they do them all in a week?